Japan is hopping right now over the missile that North Korea's Dear Leader has test fired. The Taepodong-2 is designed to reach all the way to the U.S., and it therefore causes a great deal of worry to Japan, who lie well within its range. The test appears to have failed, but it's still causing plenty of worry throughout Japan, with every channel reporting on the crisis. Yasu, here in San Diego with me, is filled with worry that the missle test might lead to something more serious, that would affect his wife and two daughters. We certainly hope for some sanity in North Korea already.
Before starting J-List, I did what most "white boy" gaijin in Japan to: I taught ESL, or English as a Second Language. I really enjoyed my time as a teacher, which allowed me to meet literally hundreds of Japanese students of all ages, and I got a lot out of my experience. One odd by-product from my teaching years was, I developed the innate ability to speak "easy English" to Japanese people, unconsciously altering my speech to make it easier for them to understand, by avoiding difficult words I knew would cause problems for them, or repressing some elements of my native California dialect ("gnarley tight, dude"). The problem is when this "reduced English" became my natural way of speaking, which would happen when I went for months without meeting any native speakers. Once I even met a Japanese person whose English was so good, she realized I was speaking "easy" English, and called me on it. It was rather embarrassing and I didn't quite know how to react.
We're happy to officially announce a new game today, which is being translated for future release in English: YUME MIRU KUSURI :: A Drug That Makes You Dream, a great title from RUF that explores life, love and growing up in modern Japan. Loaded with teenage angst, confusion, frustration and wonder, and beautiful artwork that draws the player in, this is a dating-sim like no other. We hope you'll preorder this game for free shipping when it's ready.
The longest-running movie series is Otoko wa Tsurai yo, or "It's Tough Being a Man," which told the story of traveling salesman Tora-san over 48 installments. In each movie, Tora-san goes to some region of Japan to sell his wares, and has an unlikely romance with a beautiful woman from the area, which invariably ends with him getting his heart broken. The movie is incredibly famous in Japan, and has fans all over the world. We've gotten in a cool T-shirt that features the well-known Otoko wa Tsurai yo logo, great for kanjiphiles who want to wear something cool and unique!
Whenever we do a con, we tend to go to the same places to eat every year. This is the somewhat cool restaurant at a mall near Disneyland we always go to.
Ceaser salad with, er, a wall of baked parmesan cheeze.
This is the drink of the Gods, Sangria, which I didn't know about before we came here. It's really good, if you haven't had it. It's basically wine, fruit, and fruit juice (and gin, if you're lucky).
Dude! This place has s'mores! Without Saltine crackers too! I feel like photoshopping in a little Calcifur into this picture but I am too tired.
The marshmallow roasting commences...
Dekiagari!
Er, I hate to compare America and Japan here, but this little, lame-ass finger wipe is nothiing compared to the glory of a hot oshibori towel you'd get in Japan. So there .
